iHeart lets you see how old you are on the inside

That's not according my birth certificate which says I was born in 1976, but to a consumer medical device called the iHeart, which measures internal age.

Developed by VitalSines president Dr. Jess Goodman, the iHeart looks like a standard fingertip pulse reader that you might find in a hospital, that, when paired with an accompanying app (recently available in Android as well as iOS), measures arterial (or aortic) stiffness.

Goodman says as people get older, their spines become less flexible and, in turn, the stiffness of the aorta increases. And people with greater arterial stiffness have a higher risk of cardiovascular problems.

“Aortic stiffness ... is a unique and integrative health metric able to predict risk of death from all causes, identify people as young as 30 at higher risk for heart disease, stroke and dementia,” he said.

Available for US$195, iHeart is a device that measures the stiffness of the aorta to determine what Goodman calls “core mobility.”

Clip the device onto any finger and sit still for 30 seconds and in the end, you will get a readout of, not only your heart rate and blood oxygen levels, but your aortic pulse wave velocity (a measurement or arterial stiffness). In turn, it gives your internal age.

But what do you do if you're older on the inside than you actually are? Well, it's nothing too revolutionary: Eat better and exercise more – specifically, aerobic exercise.

“Stretching between the heart and kidneys leads to better health,” Goodman said.

He added that studies have shown that aerobics can reduce arterial stiffness.

The physician said the iHeart is a sort-of an “anti-Fitbit” because instead of using it all the time, you might use it a couple of times a week to check in on your overall health over time. You can log into iHeart's website and check out a more detailed view of your health, including details on your last 13 readings, Each device also comes with five free profiles so multiple people can use the iHeart without mucking up each other's tracking results.

While at the moment the app just gives medical data, Goodman said VitalSines is working on an upgraded version be an AI-driven personal coach. It is expected to be released in the next six months.

As best as I can figure it, the iHeart works reasonably well. While I can't truly determine if the data I get is accurate beyond not having had a heart attack yet, the results I get seem to be relatively consistent – with one caveat.

The iHeart is affected by blood pressure which changes throughout the today. So if you try the device after you've just had coffee, exercised or punched a hole in your monitor because your computer froze just as you were trying to save a document, your internal age will go up. Goodman said the next-generation of the iHeart will compensate for blood pressure. But, for now, just try to calm down first and try running the test again in a few minutes.

Personally, I got internal ages ranging from 29 to my actual age of 40. But most of the time, I got 34.